Moneysupermarket founder cancels 6.4 percent stake sale

LONDON (Reuters) - The founder of British price comparison company Moneysupermarket.com, Simon Nixon, on Wednesday scrapped a plan to sell a stake of up to 6.4 percent in the company, less than a day after announcing it.

Citigroup, acting for Nixon, said in a statement that the share sale, which could have earned the company's founder as much as 100 million pounds ($149 million), had been canceled.

A source had earlier told Reuters that Nixon was reducing offer to 4 percent of the company's share capital -- 22 million shares -- from the 35 million shares previously targeted, with a price range of between 268 pence and 270 pence.

News of the cancellation sent shares in Moneysupermarket down 6.3 percent to 268.5 pence by 0850 GMT.